week 12

the semester has almost come to an end. amidst the frenzy of rushing to meet deadlines and settling down into "exam mode" i feel that this last post should be a reflection of my personal experience taking nm3204.

in the beginning i assumed a very narrow and myopic view of e-learning and its perspectives. to me, e-learning was merely a mirror of its literal translation: learning through the use of electronic mediums using the internet, flash and other interactive web 2.0 components.

however, throughout the course i have learned that there are more facets of e-learning which are not immediately apparent. the focus of this course is more slanted towards the perspective of the teacher, as opposed to the popular viewpoint of the learner.

the 3 theories of behaviourism, cognitivism and socioculturalism provide educators with a breakdown of different learning styles and give teachers a platform to better design their learning programmes based on either or all of these theories.

organisation, linking and elaboration are popular ways of memory retention and fact learning. educators who combine these methods of recall with the above mentioned theories would allow their learners to benefit greatly from the learning outcomes provided these educators accurately plan out their lessons based on different students' abilities. educators can make use of the rubric's evaluation to accurately assess and grade their student's effort.

next, needs assessment allow educators to recognise, evaluate or rectify any loopholes in the learning process and provide a clear outline for deciding and improving on the final learning outcome. this concept is in turn linked to learning designs, which require the specification of tasks, resources and support to aid in fulfilling the respective learning outcomes.

lastly, web quests allow educators to disseminate their tasks, processes and learning outcomes in a clear and concise "one stop" web site for students to access.

all these points emphasise the fact that e-learning is not merely about the learners. rather, educators themselves play an important role in determining the success of the learning outcome. this in turn greatly depends on how well educators are able to execute the various strategies as mentioned above.